Former major league slugger Darryl Strawberry has experienced some of the highest highs and the lowest lows found in baseball.

But it's his current work with the Strawberry Ministries that has given him the most satisfaction, Strawberry said Monday before speaking at the Springfield Sports Hall of Fame banquet at the Crowne Plaza.

“I felt like I was (meant to do ministry work),” Strawberry said. “I feel like we were all meant to walk in purpose — not in careers — but in purpose and find a true meaning of living and a grace and understanding of all things.

“I've been able to find it. For the past 11 years, I've been very busy in building and helping people. That's what it's really all about.”

Ironic twist

The 52-year-old Strawberry now makes suburban St. Louis his home with his wife, Tracy.

But when the Mets were battling the Cardinals for National League East supremacy, St. Louis fans treated Strawberry and his New York teammates harshly.

Strawberry said both he and the fans have forgiven, but neither side has quite forgotten those days.

“I've lived in St. Louis for 11 years now,” Strawberry said, laughing. “They kind of not let me forget, but they are so gracious and so kind more than anything.”

The four-time member of World Series championship teams and eight-time All-Star broke into the big leagues with the Mets in 1983 at age 21.

Over his first nine years in baseball, he blasted 280 home runs and drew comparisons to some of the greatest home run hitters of all time.

It culminated in his first World Series in 1986 when the Mets were able to come back from a 3-2 deficit against the Boston Red Sox to win in seven games.

“You thought it was over in Game 6, no question,” Strawberry said. “They had actually put on the (Shea Stadium message) board, ‘Congratulations to the Boston Red Sox, 1986 World Series champs.'

Boston led 5-3 with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning, but poor pitching and an error by Bill Buckner allowed the Mets to win 6-5 in Game 6 before going on to beat Boston 8-5 in Game 7.

In and out

While Strawberry was on top of the baseball world in the 1980s, the 1990s saw him fall from grace as he bounced from the Los Angeles Dodgers to the San Francisco Giants to the New York Yankees.

A cocaine addiction nearly extinguished his career on numerous occasions. He received multiple second chances before leaving baseball in 1999 following a 17-year career.

His final season in 1999 featured another comeback — from colon cancer, which had forced him to miss the 1998 World Series with the Yankees. He also played for Yankees teams that won World Series in 1996 and 1999.

Page 2 of 2 - Over Strawberry's final eight years, he added just 55 home runs to his career numbers, erasing the chance he had of making baseball's Hall of Fame.

But it doesn't haunt Strawberry.

“I am what I am supposed to be,” he said. “I don't really get crazy about the Hall of Fame, I don't get crazy about worldly status or statistics. They don't mean anything at the end of our life anyway.

“There's no championships going with me, there's no All-Star games going with me. It's just me.”